News & Analysis as of

Intellectual Property Protection Supreme Court of the United States Lanham Act

Foster Garvey PC

Shared Names, Separate Profits: What Dewberry Tells Us About Trademark Liability

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The U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling in Dewberry Group v. Dewberry Engineers Inc. (23-900 (604 U.S. _____ (2025)), provides important guidance on corporate separateness, trademark enforcement and the scope of damages...more

Jones Day

Affiliates (Currently) Off the Hook: Supreme Court Vacates $43M Trademark Infringement Award

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The Supreme Court vacates a decision treating a company and its affiliates as "one and the same" for purposes of disgorging profits for trademark infringement under the Lanham Act, but leaves many questions unaddressed....more

Fox Rothschild LLP

The U.S. Supreme Court Unanimously Rules That Successful Trademark Plaintiffs Cannot Recover Profits From Named Defendants’...

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On February 26, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously vacated a nearly $43 million award in a trademark dispute that raised the question of whether a defendant’s affiliates could be held liable for payment of a disgorged...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Dog Toy Maker in the Doghouse (Again) for Tarnishing Jack Daniel’s Marks

Addressing this case for the third time, the US District Court for the District of Arizona found on remand that Jack Daniel’s was entitled to a permanent injunction after finding that VIP Products’ “Bad Spaniels” dog toy...more

Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP

The Supreme Court and Intellectual Property in 2024-2025: What Was Decided, What Is To Come And What Was Declined

In wrapping up the 2023-24 term and embarking on the 2024-25 term, the Supreme Court was asked to decide a number of intellectual property cases. The Court issued several significant opinions in 2024 and has taken several...more

Erise IP

What’s Trending in Trademarks: January 2025

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Every month, Erise’s trademark attorneys review the latest developments at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, in the courts, and across the corporate world to bring you the stories that you should know about: USPTO...more

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

Clandestine Use of Competitor’s Trademark and ‘Initial Interest Confusion’ Infringement

Businesses use several advertising tactics. Most are clearly presented to potential consumers in traditional ways such as text on a web page, posters, mailings, brochures, etc. Alternatively, some tactics to increase exposure...more

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

Is the Federal Circuit Breathing Life Back Into False Patent Marking Claims?

The Federal Circuit determined that if a company misleads consumers about the nature of a product by making false patent marking claims, it can be held liable under the Lanham Act. False marking claims under the Lanham Act...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Trademarking History: Justices Uphold Names Clause, Clash Over Reasoning

On June 13, 2024, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Vidal v. Elster, a case that pitted trademark law against the First Amendment’s free speech protections. While the Court unanimously upheld the Patent and...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Lanham Act’s Personal Names Restriction Does Not Violate First Amendment

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As expected, based on the tenor of the Justices’ questions during oral argument, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against a trademark applicant seeking to register a mark commenting on former President Donald Trump. The...more

Womble Bond Dickinson

The IP of Everything Podcast - Episode 22 - The IP of Dog Toys

Womble Bond Dickinson on

Explore the legal intricacies of dog toy trademarks such as Chewy Vuitton and Bad Spaniels. Uncover key cases, including a pivotal Supreme Court showdown, with implications for both canines and intellectual property at large....more

Stark & Stark

Jack Daniels v. Bad Spaniels: Parody and First Amendment Protections Do Not Shield Users of Expressive Commercial...

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Seeing an opportunity to capitalize on comedic freedom of speech and parodistic liberties (think Weird Al Yankovic and Aqua’s Barbie Girl hit song), a pet toy maker decided to create a chewable, squeaky dog toy shaped like...more

ArentFox Schiff

Supreme Court Puts a Leash on Parody Defense in ‘BAD SPANIELS’ Trademark Infringement Case

ArentFox Schiff on

The US Supreme Court rejected First Amendment defenses raised by the maker of whiskey bottle-shaped dog chew toys branded BAD SPANIELS based on claims of trademark infringement and dilution of JACK DANIEL’S marks. ...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Courts and Brand Owners Struggling With SCOTUS Decision Limiting Ability to Police Against Foreign Trademark Infringement

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The U.S. Supreme Court’s end-of-term decision in Abitron v. Hetronic seems to have created more questions than answers about U.S. brand owners’ ability to leverage the federal Lanham Act in global trademark disputes. In the...more

Kohrman Jackson & Krantz LLP

Supreme Court to Examine Free Speech Limits in “TRUMP TOO SMALL” Trademark Case

The intersection of free speech and private business branding is once again in front of the Supreme Court of the United States. On June 5th, the Supreme Court decided to hear Vidal v. Elster, Case 22-704, an appeal from the...more

Pillsbury - Internet & Social Media Law Blog

Out of Bounds: Supreme Court Sets the Limits of U.S. Trademark Law

On June 29, 2023, in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc., 600 U.S. ___ (2023), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Lanham Act could not extend to trademark infringement that occurred almost entirely outside...more

International Lawyers Network

Is the Legal Test for Expressive Use of a Trademark on The Rocks? Jack Daniel’s Prevails at the Supreme Court

The Bottom Line - The U.S. Supreme Court recently decided that, when using another’s trademark “as a designation of source for the infringer’s own goods,” one is not entitled to a First Amendment defense even if the use...more

Sunstein LLP

U.S. Brand Owners Have More Limited Options to Curb Foreign Infringement following Supreme Court’s Abitron Ruling

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On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court issued a much-anticipated trademark decision in Abitron Austria v. Hetronic International concerning the global reach of the Lanham Act. The Court determined that U.S. law does not extend...more

McAfee & Taft

SCOTUS rules Lanham Act does not have extraterritorial reach

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In the United States, trademarks are governed on the federal level by the Lanham Act (also known as the Trademark Act of 1946), which was enacted on July 5, 1946, and is codified at 15 U.S.C. § 1051 et seq. The Lanham Act...more

Husch Blackwell LLP

U.S. Supreme Court Holds Parody Trademarks to Likelihood of Confusion Standard

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On June 8, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Jack Daniel’s Properties, Inc. v. VIP Products LLC, holding that parody trademarks do not receive special First Amendment protection when they function as...more

Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs, LLC

U.S. Businesses Need Foreign Trademark Registrations in the Wake of Abitron

U.S. businesses selling abroad cannot enforce domestic trademarks against foreign entities selling infringing goods into the United States through strawmen, according to a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in...more

Clark Hill PLC

U.S. Supreme Court’s Decision in Abitron Austria GMBH et al. v. Hetronic International, Inc. Underscores the Need for Foreign...

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On June 29, the United States Supreme Court issued its highly anticipated decision regarding the foreign reach of the Lanham Act, the federal statute that prohibits trademark infringement. The decision confirms the...more

Fenwick & West LLP

A Domesticated Lanham Act: Supreme Court’s Abitron Ruling Opens New Debate on Foreign Reach of U.S. Trademark Law

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The Supreme Court’s June 29, 2023, decision in Abitron Austria GMBH v. Hetronic Int’l, Inc., No. 21-1043, ended decades of circuit splits on the standard for determining the extraterritorial reach of the Lanham Act (see our...more

Sullivan & Worcester

Supreme Court Rules U.S. Trademark Law Does Not Apply to Foreign Conduct

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On June 29, 2023, in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Lanham Act does not have an extraterritorial scope and applies only in cases where the alleged infringing “use...more

BakerHostetler

Extraterritorial Reach of the Lanham Act

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The Supreme Court recently ruled in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc. that Lanham Act (Act) remedies for trademark infringement do not extend to infringing conduct that takes place outside the United...more

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